‘It’s asinine’: John Tortorella laments fans’ calls to tank for the rest of the season

John Tortorella gets mail. Some of it, the Flyers coach said, comes from fans with Connor Bedard-tinged dreams, encouraging him to spearhead a tank job for the remainder of the season to try to land the highest possible draft pick.

Before practice Friday, fresh off the Flyers’ 5-4 shootout win against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday that extended a four-game point streak (3-0-1), Tortorella issued a plea — enough with the tank talk, at least in his mailbox.

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“It’s asinine,” Tortorella said. “Athletes don’t tank. Coaches are not going to tank. They’d have mental problems living with themselves if they ever went about their business that way.”

Instead, the Flyers are focused on ending the season on a high note and establishing a solid foundation to build off next season. They’ve started to do just that on their seven-game home stand (3-1-1, tied for the sixth-best record in the league since March 14). They’re also scoring 4.4 goals per game (fifth since March 14), which is 1.72 goals better than their season average (2.68, ranked 30th).

For 24-year-old Flyers winger Noah Cates, who is expected to be a key part of the Flyers’ young core, the team’s final 11 games offer an opportunity to build confidence.

“I feel like this year we’ve solidified a good base for this rebuild with some of the younger guys, and obviously [I] want to be a part of that,” Cates said. “I think we’re going up from here. So hopefully, this is kind of the lowest we go and some good drafting in the past years and coming up here will kind of push us forward and into the playoffs these next couple years.”

According to Tankathon, the Flyers (27-32-12, 66 points) have the league’s seventh-best draft lottery odds with a 6.5% chance of landing the No. 1 pick. The Columbus Blue Jackets (22-41-7, 51 points) have the best odds (25.5%),and the skidding San Jose Sharks (19-38-15, 53 points) the second-best odds (13.5%).

Tortorella may not believe in tanking, at least from the perspective of a coach or a player, but he does believe in the power of the hockey gods to do right by honest organizations.

“You go about your business the right way each and every day, you look yourself in the mirror, you say, ‘Did I give everything?’ and you’ll live with the circumstance,” Tortorella said. “Eventually, if you do it the right way, you’re going to come out on the right side of it.”

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With the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on the cusp of securing a playoff spot, Tortorella understands that winger Tyson Foerster and defenseman Egor Zamula won’t be up with the Flyers for much longer. However, they will each at least play against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, which coincides with the Phantoms’ first game of the weekend against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Following the game against the Red Wings, Tortorella and interim general manager Danny Brière will discuss whether or not to send down Foerster and Zamula. The team’s injury situation, which involves wingers Nick Deslauriers (upper body) and Owen Tippett, may influence the decision. The Phantoms play at Hershey on Sunday d and have eight more regular-season games after that.

Both Foerster and Zamula have had strong stints with the Flyers since being recalled. Foerster notched his second NHL goal on Thursday in the third period to tie the game and send it to overtime. Tortorella then expressed confidence in Foerster when he gave him the first crack in the shootout, although the winger was unsuccessful.

“He’s just got some personality with the puck and some really great swagger with the puck,” Tortorella said. “Another really big play [in the third period] for him. That’s why I lead him up there in the shootout. I want to see what he can do right away there and I listened to him mumble to himself, I’m not going to say it to you guys, on what happened. He’s a very astute young man as far as the game is concerned.”

In seven games, Foerster has two goals and four assists, tied for first on the team with six points since his NHL debut on March 9. Zamula recorded two assists in the Flyers’ 6-3 win over the Panthers on Tuesday, marking the first multi-point game of his NHL career.

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The Flyers have two more regular recalls at their disposal for the remainder of the season.

Deslauriers, who skated in warmups Thursday before the game against the Wild, did not participate in optional practice and is “day-to-day,” per Tortorella. Tippett, who took a maintenance day earlier this week because of being banged-up, also did not participate Friday.